Lynette Scavo
Profile '''Lynette Scavo' (née Lindquist) was once best known as a tough, savvy businesswoman. In the working world she was an over-achiever who could accomplish any task. But those days came to an end when she and her husband, Tom, decided to have kids...five kids to be exact. Since then, Lynette has tirelessly struggled to find the perfect balance between marriage, motherhood, and career. Over the last ten years, Lynette battled her wild children, her prescription drug dependency, her crazy boss, her husband's mid-life crisis, her unstable siblings, her alcoholic mother, cancer, a miscarriage, and a serial killer, to name a few. Now, in her forties, she's facing her most daunting challenge yet: a new daughter. Just when she thought those diaper days were over, here's another one! Biography Lynette represents that person inside all of us, who just can't seem to hold it together. She is lovable because of her chaotic life, her struggles, and, most important, her ability to be honest about them. It is as though she took a new job she thought she would love, and now she desperately misses her old one. It's not that she doesn't love her children, but like many woman, she doesn't love being a stay-at-home mother. It doesn't help that her children are impossible to handle. But Lynette is so driven that she tries to apply the same go-getter methods she used at work. Worse, Tom seems to have no idea how harried she is. He's oblivious to her plight, and his cluelessness only fuels her frustration. Early Life Lynette is the eldest of three daughters. After the death of their father, their mother Stella married Glenn Wingfield. After a short time, Glenn left his family. Lynette blamed her mother for driving him away for a long time. She graduated from Northwestern University and met Tom when they worked together in the Advertising field. They married and moved to Wisteria Lane when they discovered she was expecting their eldest children, Porter Scavo & Preston Scavo. A year later, she had Parker Scavo and five years later, Penny. Lynette has the most children on Wisteria Lane, and is always willing to do what is best for her family. Season 1 Lynette is near to breaking point - stuck at home alone with four kids. Her husband is always away on business trips or at work. Lynette struggled to cope with her four children until Preston and Porter were prescribed medication for ADD (attention deficet disorder). Lynette decided not to medicate them and started taking the medication herself so she could make the costumes for a school play. Realizing she was addicted, Lynette managed to stop taking the pills after she and Tom hired a nanny. Unfortunately she didn't stay long as she caught Tom's eye a little too much. Her problems got worse when Tom told her that he was offered a lucrative promotion that would take him away from home more often, which he refused to discuss with her, so she made sure that his boss didn't offer him the promotion. When Tom found out what Lynette had done, he quit his job, and in the season finale informs her that she will be going back to work. Season 2 Lynette got a job at an advertising agency and much of the season, Lynette dealt with obstacles at work and dealing with her colleagues. Stu is a bumbling secretary at the agency and is kind to Lynette, often doing her favours or helping her in tough situations. Nina is the co-worker from hell; bitchy, self-centered, and neurotic. She causes Lynette many problems and stresses her out with work. Ed, the boss is the seemingly cool guy, but his faults lead Lynette to have to fire Tom when he gets hired at the agency. Lynette also testifies for Bree when she is accused of child abuse but made Bree realize that she has a problem with alcohol. At the end of the season, Lynette thinks Tom is cheating on her but discovers Tom has just met his daughter, Kayla Huntington. She is the result of a one night stand Tom had with her mother, Nora Huntington. Nora uses the back child support from Tom to move her and Kayla to Fairview so Kayla can get to know her father, stepmother and half-siblings. Season 3 Lynette has trouble adjusting to having Nora and Kayla around her and her family but does her best. Lynette learns that Nora wants Tom back so she warns her to keep her distance. Nora decides to move away and take Kayla so Lynette and Tom go for custody. However, plans changed when Nora and Lynette were held at gunpoint by Carolyn Bigsby. Learning that Nora had made a pass at Lynette's husband, Carolyn killed her. Lynette promised her, before she died, that she would look after Kayla. Mad that Kayla had lost her mother, she told Carolyn that she deserved to be cheated on. Carolyn went on to shoot Lynette, hitting her in the arm. Lynette and Kayla struggle to get on as Kayla blamed Lynette for her mother's death. Tom, jobless, followed his life-long dream to open a pizzeria and Lynette went to work with him but their relationship hit a problem when Tom was confined to bed with a back injury. Lynette struggled to cope with Tom, five children and the pizzeria so she hired a manager, Rick. Soon, Lynette realized she had feelings for Rick and spent time alone with him after the restaurant closed every night. Tom thought Rick and Lynette were having an affair and demanded Rick quit his job but he refused to go. Rick told Lynette he had feelings for her so she fired him. Following a row with Tom when he accidentally knocked Lynette onto the floor from their bed, they went to hospital where a CAT scan revealed swollen lymph nodes. In the season finale, Lynette told her sister Lucy that she has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and asks if Lucy can lend them some money. Lucy is sympathetic but unable to help as her husband has just lost his job. Tom borrows the money from Lynette's mother, Stella Wingfield - much to her chagrin. Stella then told Lynette that she is moving in so she can help while Lynette fights the cancer. Season 4 Thanks to the cancer, Lynette now wears wigs but has kept her illness a secret. She didn't want people feeling sorry for her but eventually confesses. Her friends are shocked that she felt unable to confide in them but eventually she gets the all clear. Lynette asks Stella to leave after she gave her brownies laced with marijuana. She asked her sisters to take Stella but they refused. Upset at their attitude, Lynette asks Stella to stay with her, but Stella refused and left. Lynette later discovered that Glen left because he was gay. Upon discovering this, Lynette reveals that she would have forgiven her mother and that she appreciates all the time they've spent together. Stella, not wanting to ruin that, decides not to return and moves in with Glen. A short time later, a tornado warning was declared for Fairview, and Lynette persuaded her neighbor, Mrs. McCluskey, to let her family shelter in her basement. Ida Greenberg is riding out the storm with them in the basement, too. Lynette and Karen went out into the storm to find Ida's cat, but are caught in it and hide in Lynette's bathtub. After the tornado, Lynette and Mrs. McCluskey find Mrs. McCluskey's house in ruins. Lynette's family is safe, though. Ida died, giving her life in fact, so Lynette's family would survive. Lynette, is touched by Ida's selflessness. Kayla then begins to act out towards Lynette, to the point where Lynette slaps her for threatening Penny. Kayla's evil streak continues and she burns herself with a curling iron. She blamed Lynette, who is later arrested. While in prison, she told Tom what Kayla was doing so he confronted Kayla, placing his cell phone on the table, with the doctor on the other end. Kayla confesses to them that she lied so Tom sends her to live with her grandparents. Tom is upset that he had to send her away, but, in time, he and Lynette reconcile. During the five-year jump at the end of Season Four, Tom and Lynette are still running the pizzeria and having trouble raising the twins, now teenagers. Tom is having a mid-life crisis and often sides with his sons, frustrating Lynette. Season 5 Tom starts an all guy band with Dave Williams, Orson Hodge, Carlos Solis and Mike Delfino, much to Lynette's annoyance. Lynette and Tom discover that Porter is having an affair with Anne Schilling, a much older married woman. Anne tells Porter that she is having his baby and they plan to run away together. Lynette confronts Anne about her affair with Porter and her abusive husband, Warren, overhears them. He asks Lynette to leave and is beating Anne up but Lynette returns. Later that day, Tom and his band have a gig at Warren Schilling's nightclub. Porter confronts Warren and Warren punches him but Lynette intervenes again. She sends Porter home and confronts Warren herself about "hitting women and children". Warren locks the door and as the band play, a fire starts. Everyone's trapped but they escape through a window and Warren blames Porter for the fire. He is later arrested but released on bail and Lynette pays Anne to leave town alone. Lynette tells Anne to contact her or Tom when the baby is born and Anne reveals that there is no baby. After Warren threatens to kill him, Porter jumps bail. Tom and Lynette plan for Preston to pose as Porter in court. After it is discovered that he is hiding out at his grandmother's nursing home, Porter returns and the charges are dropped. Unfortunately lawyer bills, and the money used to pay Anne has left the Scavos broke, forcing Tom to sell the pizzeria. Lynette returns to the workforce, working for Carlos Solis at his investment firm. In the finale, Lynette starts feeling ill and fears that the cancer has returned. She learns however that she's pregnant with (another) set of twins. Season 6 In her first trimester, Lynette is depressed about the prospect of having twins so late in life. She admits to her husband Tom that she doesn't love her unborn children in the way she loved her other kids at this stage. Lynette talks to an upset Susan, who says that she would give up everything to get just one more day as Julie's mom. This convinces Lynette to keep going on with her pregnancy, and so she announces it to her children in the third episode. Problems arise at work when she must keep her pregnancy secret from her boss Carlos in order to protect a promotion. This entails explaining away her increased bust by leading Carlos to believe she has had breast implants. Gabrielle soon discovers the truth however, and tells Carlos, who's angered at how Lynette kept this secret. He offers her a "promotion" to a new office in Florida which she refuses. She sues Carlos, angering both him and Gabrielle. Carlos gives Lynette a huge amount of work to do in one night and Lynette chooses to attend her daughter's Christmas pageant. She shows up at work still unfinished and Carlos uses the inability to complete a task as grounds to fire her. Lynette and Gaby's friendship is strained after Lynette files a lawsuit against Carlos' company. Gaby then becomes very cold towards Lynette and it appears their friendship is over. However, when a plane crashes on Wisteria Lane, Lynette is the one who saves Celia from being killed. Carlos tells Lynette that the Solis family owes Lynette everything. In the aftermath of the accident, Lynette has pain in her stomach and realizes something is the matter with the babies. After a close examination with a doctor, it is discovered that one of the twins has a lack of blood flow in his body. Surgery is needed to repair the problem and while unconscious, Lynette dreams of life with a disabled child and the everyday struggles. When she awakens, she is told by Tom that they lost that baby, but the other one was fine. Lynette then breaks down in tears and cries for the lost baby. When Gaby comes to thank Lynette for saving Celia and to say she was sorry, Lynette reveals that the baby was supposed to be named Patrick. She does not talk about Patrick's death for nearly a month until Tom reminds her it's OK to let it out and Tom thought she might want to stay with their daughter after she is born. When he learns that Bob and Lee are seeing a counselor, Tom suggests going to one with Lynette, but she insists therapy is for "losers". Tom starts seeing a therapist on his own and keeping a "feelings" journal, which he will not let Lynette read. Angrily, she visits the therapist, Dr. Graham, to defend herself from what she's sure is Tom's badmouthing. She admits she gets mad when she is not in control. When Dr. Graham equates this to the lack of control Lynette felt in losing her baby, Lynette reluctantly sits down on the couch. Later, when Tom returns from work, Lynette informs him they will be going to therapy together. Tom is very happy with the progress being made at the therapy sessions with Dr. Graham, but Lynette feels she is being ganged up on. They argue about whether to continue going. When they see Dr. Graham give a terrible performance in a local play, after her mentioning what a gift she has for acting, they can no longer take her seriously. Later in the season, Preston returns from Europe and brings with him a Russian women named Irina, who Lynette believes is a gold digger. Lynette investigates Irina's past and finds that Irina is a gold digger and a prostitute but is killed by the Fairview Strangler. She invites Eddie to live with her and her family after she sees him being treated badly by his mom, but is unaware that he is the Fairview Strangler. Eddie attacks Porter after he disrespects Lynette. She tells him that that can never happen again and teaches him a breathing technique she learned as a teenager. Tom comes home and after having a bad flight, is angry with Lynette that there is no dinner. Eddie starts the breathing technique and Lynette kisses Tom to prove that everything is okay so Eddie doesn't attack him. Later, Tom and Lynette talk and they agree that Eddie needs therapy. The therapist tells Lynette that Eddie has a lot of issues and it would help if his mother came to therapy. Lynette goes to Eddie's house and doesn't get an answer. When she is about to leave, a neighbour tells her that Barbara hasn't been seen for days and her car is still there, setting off Lynette's suspicions about Eddie. Then when she learns that Irina was killed, she overhears at the police station that they have found Eddie's mother's body. When she goes to tell him, she catches him in his lies and finds herself trapped in Eddie's home. With her life at Eddie's mercy, Lynette goes into labour. Lynette gives birth to her daughter with the help of Eddie (who saves the baby's life). Eddie attempts to make a run for it, but Lynette begs him to turn himself in - Telling him that if she was his mom, she would be so proud. Eddie tearfully asks Lynette to do it for him. Lynette agrees, letting him hold the baby while she dials 911. Season 7 Lynette welcomes her old friend, Renée Perry to the Lane and invites her to stay with her. Lynette tells Tom to see a doctor after he returns home early from work after feeling ill, yet again. When Tom returns from the doctor the next day, he informs Lynette that he is suffering from Postpartum Depression, a condition that generally affects women and, although rare, even men. Lynette does not take this news seriously and is astonished that Tom is taking the diagnosis seriously. Meanwhile, Renee (who is still staying in the Scavo home) warns Lynette that she should take Tom’s concerns more seriously, but Lynette ignores this. Lynette is especially angered when she learns that Tom has been confiding in Renee, listening to his problems when Lynette will not. One evening, Lynette learns that the two have gone to dinner but left a message for her to join them if she wishes. Angry, Lynette meets the two at a restaurant just as they are discussing Lynette’s dismissive behavior towards Tom. Lynette pulls Renee aside and tells her that it is inappropriate to be so close to Tom and demands that their current friendship be toned down. That night, Lynette realizes she needs to be there for her husband more often and the two decide to simply talk to each other rather than make love, thus making progress in their marriage. Renee later apologizes to Lynette and is forgiven, and reveals that she has just bought Edie Britt’s former home on Wisteria Lane. Lynette is hesitant to the idea, but happy nonetheless. In private, Tom warns Renee that it may be a bad idea for her to be their neighbor because he is afraid Lynette may find out about “something that happened” between he and Renee years earlier. Lynette and Renee start a new business in interior design, after a little persuasion from Renee. Renee suggests hiring Susan as Lynette's nanny. Lynette is reluctant, but eventually agrees. Lynette ends up comforting Susan when she feels bad about not being as financially stable as her friends. Mike has taken the job in Alaska, and Susan accepts Lynette's offer to be baby Paige's nanny, even though she originally thought she was being hired to work in Lynette and Renee's new business. She overhears a new client of Lynette and Renee's, and suggests that she ask her daughter for her favorite characters to paint on her wall. The woman likes Susan's idea. Renee gets mad at Susan, while Lynette wonders why her friend is acting strange. Susan eventually reveals that she feels the nanny job is beneath her, and is shamed to be the poor person in her group of friends. Lynette comforts her, saying that money can't change the way she looks in their eyes. Lynette had decided she wanted baby Paige to get used to crying herself to sleep, much to nanny Susan's dismay. Susan couldn't get used to a crying baby thinking the baby wjould feel abandoned so she kept sneaking to hold Paige. Lynette was upset that Susan would not conform to her way of raising her own baby. Susan was going to quit but then told Lynette that there was just too much crying in her life, she and MJ were crying themselves to sleep at night because they missed Mike so much. Lynette learns that Paul is officially opening the halfway house and is receiving an award from the mayor for doing so. She gathers the neighborhood to start a protest during the mayor's award speech, which turns into a riot. People are injured (including Susan!) and Paul Young is shot. Lynette is questioned about the incident, and she tells detectives she didn't shoot him. During a lunch meeting with a new client, Lynette scores some oatmeal raisin cookies for Renee because she knows how much she loves them. This causes Renee to have a mini-breakdown. She tells her BFF the truth about her past affair with Tom. Lynette is deeply hurt but tells Renee not to tell Tom that she knows. Judging by the fact that she tricks her hubby into burning his tongue on some piping hot chocolate, we’re thinking Lynette will dole out his punishment slowly and methodically over time. Lynette has been getting her revenge lately, as she has been pulling pranks and tricks on her Tom for having slept with Renee twenty years before. Her tricks include getting his pants to rip, smearing the steps with peanut butter so that he trips on them, filling his coffee mug with salt, etc. Renee realizes what Lynette is up to, and finds it rather childish and immature, suggesting that she simply come clean to Tom. Lynette says she's not ready to do just that yet, because she knows how it'd work out, Tom would apologize sincerely, leading to a tear fest, and ending with her eventually forgiving him, and she's not ready to forgive him, she has a lot of anger to work through before sweeping this mess under the rug and moving on, and it's better to play seldom harmful little tricks on her husband than murdering him as a crime of passion. Lynette asks her friend not to tell her husband, but Renee doesn't budge, warning Tom one day when he's driving off to work, telling him that Lynette knows what happened between them, which is why he's been so accident prone lately. Back at home, Lynette prepares a batch of brownies for her husband, filled with laxatives in them. He comes home from work and is offered one, but refuses to eat it, out of fear he might be poisoned by something. Penny shows up and asks to eat one. Lynette doesn't let her, saying she doesn't want her dinner to be spoiled and she made those brownies for her daddy anyway, but Tom insists that Penny have one. Lynette saves her daughter, who is unaware of what is going on, and leaves them to handle their own situation, and Tom catches on to the fact that Lynette was gonna pull another prank on him. She realizes Renee told him what she's been up to, and Tom tells her what happened between the two of them never meant anything because they were separated at the time, and everything worked out fine between them afterwards. Lynette says that they were engaged, and they only took a break because they were arguing a lot and they needed to take a time out and clear their heads and think about whether they really wanted to be with one another. At her mother's home, Lynette says she saw Stella cooking a frittata, and thought she should make that for Tom, and instantly realized there might be no more Tom, so she knew then she didn't want to spend another day not being with him. So basically what irritates her is that when she was out there realizing she wanted to be with the love of her life, he was busy having sex with her best friend. Later, Tom apologizes yet again, saying he wanted to tell her, but the opportunity never came up because they have shared so many wonderful moments as a married couple and parents of several children, and he didn't want to spoil any single one of them. Lynette doesn't respond, and he leaves her to think about whether she wants to throw away the handful of years they spent together and the beautiful life they created with each other's company. The following day, while the family is all assembled in the kitchen to have a meal and Penny tries to convince her older brothers to attend her soccer game, the friendly back-and-forth between the kids makes it so that Lynette realizes how right her husband was and forgives him on the spot, without having to say a word. Lynette’s mom, Stella (guest star Polly Bergen), comes to town with news that she’s getting married. Her fiancé Frank (guest star Larry Hagman) is a total tool. The guy’s rude, crude and obnoxious. He’s also loaded, which is the only reason Stella is marrying the jerk. Judging by the actor who plays Frank, we’re thinking the guy may have made his money in the oil industry. Tom convinces Lynette to suck it up and support her mom on her wedding day. But as she’s pushing the wheelchair-bound bride-to-be down the aisle, Lynette rolls her mom right out the door. Stella tells her daughter that she’s not really marrying Frank for his money. She’s with the guy because he needs her and that makes her feel good inside. With that, Lynette wheels her mom back into the church. Stella’s caustic new hubby, Frank, wants a family portrait. When Lynette tries to weasel out of it, Frank tries to bribe her with $500 of gas money. That’s not going to work. However, Stella and Frank are more than welcome to come over to the Scavo place for a family photo op. CLICK! The picture is snapped, but it’s not a good shot. Frank’s eyes were closed. That’s because he’s dead. It’s a sad time for Stella. Sure her new hubby is dead, but the real tragedy is that Frank’s new will doesn’t go into effect until tomorrow. If they call the coroner now, she gets nothing. If they wait until morning, she gets millions. Lynette says, “I didn’t want Frank in my house when he was alive. Now you want me to hang out with his corpse?” Better hope they have plenty of air freshener on hand. Alternate Timeline When Lynette begins to feel sharp pains in her stomach, both her and Tom are stunned at the possibility that something unfortunate could have happened to their unborn children during the Scavo matriarch's successful attempt at saving Celia Solis from an early death. While under examination from a Fairview doctor, Tom and Lynette are informed that there is strange abnormality occurring from one of their unborn twins as indicated from her ultrasound. The doctor diagnoses that because of the damage that has been done to the mother during her pre-natal stages, chances are that the endangered child will most likely grow up with some sort of disability; which kind however is left uncertain until surgeons are able to properly investigate the fetal anomaly. During her transport to the operating room, Lynette imagines a future with a physically disabled son. In this vision, she is seen to be constantly overwhelmed by the demanding pressures of raising a disabled child with whom her and Tom have christened as "Patrick Scavo." She nearly suffers a breakdown when she struggles with administering physical therapy exercises on a constantly crying baby Patrick but is eventually calmed down by her husband with a few encouraging words. When Patrick is about 10 years old, Lynette's patience begins to run thin under the pressure of raising Patrick once again when the boy asks for his mother to make him a sandwich. The two then argue to each other with regards to the amount of work that each one has to accomplish in order to get through the day: Lynette with the housework and Patrick's mandatory use of a forearm crutch for mobility. Lynette then ignores her son in pure guilt as he attempts to make his own sandwich for the very first time. He successfully accomplishes the task as the two of them silently thank each other with light smirks. Patrick is last seen in his 20's during his graduation ceremony from Law School as valedictorian, presenting a speech to all participants about how much his mother had helped him overcome his disability and become the man that he was destined to be. Back in reality, Lynette wakes up to her husband at her side to which he tenderly informs her that the surgeons were unable to save "Patrick". However, Tom reassures his wife that the other surviving twin is still alive and growing strongly. Relationships For a full list of Lynette's relationships, visit Lynette's relationships. Quotations Gallery Lynettegoestowork.jpg LynetteScavoprofilepic1.jpg LynetteScavo.jpg Lynette2.jpg Lynette Scavo.jpg Lynette S5.jpg Lynette S6.jpg LynetteS6.jpg Lynette Promo.jpg Lynette Scavo S7.jpg Trivia *Lynette's four children were originally planned to be called Paul, Preston, Patsy and Phillip instead of Porter, Preston, Parker and Penny. *In Episode Two of Desperate Housewives, Penny's name is written as Daisy on Mike's whiteboard. *Lynette mentioned in season 1, that she and her sisters were hit by her mother; this possibly indicates that she was abused as a child. *Lynette's Birthday is October 27th. 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